Vertical caving terminology and methods > Knots > Alternatives and enhancements to knots
A connector made from a U-bolt and saddle, which can be tightened to grip two strands of cable or rope. They are sometimes used instead of swaged ferrules to make a loop or eyelet in a cable, such as traverse lines for wire traverses which are used as fixed aids. They can also be used to join two cables into a longer cable. They may be used to connect a wire cable to maillons or carabiners in a way that they cannot easily slide along the cable, without needing a loop. However, in that case, they do not normally provide enough gripping strength to be trusted to remain perfectly in place on the cable, so while it is acceptable for intermediate anchors on a traverse line, this method should not be used for backups at the ends of the cable. While they can be used with rope, it is extremely rare to do so, since there are many better methods, such as tying knots. When making loops or joining cables, several cable clamps are usually used at the same time, which can retain 80% of the minimum breaking strength of the wire cable if used correctly. However, cable clamps are heavy, snag everything, and need to be regularly tightened with a torque wrench in case they become loosened by snagging things. As a result, they are not used on dedicated portable caving equipment like ladders, and can actually be quite a liability. Suppliers often make up random names for these devices, full of search keywords.
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